Eternal Blessing
by BloodstainedMelody
Summary: Its been 7 years since Ib and Mary have last been to the gallery. When they return, all of the memories come flooding back, and in the end choices have to be made, but which one is the right one? Modernish AU?
1. Return

"_Ib_" Mary whines, swinging her legs, hitting the underside of the wooden bench with cork wedges. The shoes are opened toed, revealing shiny yellow painted toenails.

Ib sighs and closes her book, one finger wedged firmly between pages to mark her place.

"What is it Mary?"

"I don't wanna go to the art gallery..." Mary mumbles, dipping her head and causing he long blonde locks to cover her face.

"You could have stayed home with mum or gone to the mall or something with your friends, you didn't have to come with me." Ib says simply with a shrug.

"But then you'd have to go alone.."

"I don't mind being alone"

True, Ib would rather spend a weekend at home rather than go out with a friend like other girls her age would. Due to her introverted nature Ib didn't have many friends, not that she minded, but most people found it baffling how the person closest to her was Mary, her younger sister. Mary was the exact opposite of Ib, she was always out with her friends, and constantly surrounded by admirers. Mary would rather go to a party, where Ib would prefer to curl up on a couch and read a book. But what people didn't know was that it was their contrasting personalities that brought them so close. If Mary was ever upset, Ib would be there to listen, and if Ib was ever feeling sad, Mary's upbeat and bubbly personality would always put a smile back on her face.

Mary sighs "But I still want to hang with you"

Ib shrugs again. "Suit yourself."

She reopens her book and the pair lapse into a silence, broken by the thud of heels against the bus stop bench. Abruptly the thuds stop.

"Ib, the bus is here" Mary says standing up and putting her cellphone into her back pocket.

Ib stands and puts her novel into her shoulder bag, then fumbles to ready her bus pass.

The bus pulls up to the curb and the doors slide open with a squeak. Ib swipes her pass and Mary drops her fare into the coin slot.

"You know it would be easier just to get a pass instead of using change." Ib says as Mary slides into the seat next to her.

"I hardly ever use the bus" Mary says pulling her cell phone out checking a new text "Plus I'd probably lose it"

Ib nods thoughtfully "Hm I guess you're right."

"Um Ib?" Mary asks quietly.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering why you wanted to visit the art gallery again"

"Well, the last time we had been there was 7 years ago, so I don't really remember what exhibits there were, and I heard there is a new painting up on display, plus I art galleries are nice and quiet, it gives your mind a chance to wander, don't you think?"

Mary sighs " I think they're kinda boring"

Its a fifteen minute ride to the gallery. The two sisters step off the bus and onto the sidewalk. A poster is taped to the side of the gallery, the words "Guertena's Greatest Artworks, admissions are only 10$" are printed in black lettering.

"Ten bucks is a lot just to stare at some person's art don't you think?" Mary mutters, reading the poster.

"Guertena spent his whole life painting and sculpting" Ib says quietly, careful not to let irritation color her voice "I don't think ten dollars is too much, I bet he appreciates us coming to admire them"

"But the paintings are trapped" Mary says softly, her voice barely audible "They are so lonely, like freak shows in a circus, always being judged."

"What was that?" Ib asks turning to face her sister.

Mary shakes her head "Nothing" she says, a bright smile lighting up her face, "Just talking to myself"

"Mhm"

Mary follows Ib into the doors leading into the gallery. They pay for admission and Ib grabs a pamphlet from the front desk.

"The new painting is called 'Forgotten Portrait' its on display on the upper floor, but let's look at all the others ones first, and save it for last, how does that sound?" Ib says looking at the pamphlet.

"Sounds cool" Mary says sounding bored.

Together they go to each exhibit, examining each one closely before moving on to the next. Occasionally commenting on them. Ib points out her favorite was the rose sculpture, while Mary says she liked "Lady in Red". Finally after looking at every exhibit, the pair make their way to the newest one.

'Forgotten Portrait' depicts a man in about his early twenties, his jacket is in tatters, the blue rose clutched in his hand is missing almost all of its petals. His eyes are closed, wavy purple bangs cover almost half of his face.

Ib blinks, a shudder of nostalgia going down her spine.

_This man...Have I seen him before? _

"Ib? Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You zoned out" Mary says looking at Ib with wide blue eyes "Are you feeling okay? Should we go home now?"

Ib shakes her head, "No I'm okay"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"Alright.. If you say so.."

Suddenly the fluorescent lights above their heads flicker. Mary utters a startled gasp and reaches out to clutch Ib's arm.

" W-what was that?" Mary asks, fright clearly visible on her face.

" Maybe somebody's playing with the light switches" Ib says, seemingly undisturbed as she pry's her arm out of Mary's grasp.

"_But where did everybody go?_" Mary hisses "_theres nobody around anymore_"

Ib turns, letting her gaze wander over the empty corridors. Mary is right, the once crowded gallery is now deserted and dead silent.

"Maybe its closing time, we were here for awhile" Ib says checking her watch, then frowning "Thats strange..."

"Huh? Whats strange? What is it Ib?" Mary asks, voice high pitched and anxious.

"The gallery doesn't close until six, and its only five...But thats not it, my watch stopped ticking."

"Maybe its broken?"

"It can't be, Mum just got it for me last week as a late birthday gift."

Frustrated Mary pulls out her cell phone, her expression grows horrified.

"What is it?"

"The clock on my phone isn't working either, its paused at five..."

The lights flicker again, this time they go out.

Ib swallows, "Mary I think it's time we go home now" she says, fighting to keep her voice calm.

"Wait -Ib! Look at the painting" Mary shrieks suddenly, pointing behind Ib with a yellow painted nail.

Ib whirls around, brown hair flying to face the painting. Her eyes grow wide, the sleeping man had disappeared,as if he has just got up and walked away. Only a few lone blue petals and thorny stems remained.

"But...How..."

Ib takes a step forward, arm outstretched to touch the canvas, as if to reassure herself that her was really gone. But when her fingertips were inches away, the whole painting swings to the side on invisible hinges, revealing a pitch blackness. With a gasp Ib pulls her hand back, but a burning curiosity settles itself at the back of Ib's mind. What was inside the dark hole? Taking another step forward, she cranes her neck to try and peer through the darkness.

"Ib I don't think thats a good idea" Mary says quietly.

"Just a quick look Mary, I think I see some light"

Gripping the edges, Ib leans over trying to get a better view. If she looked straight down, she could see a tiny pinprick of light.

Suddenly, a shove sends Ib flying into the hole. It was cold, pitch black and cold, it seeped through her wool sweater and left her chilled to the bone. Ib didn't have a chance to scream. The last thing saw was Mary's terrified face looking down at her before the dark abyss swallowed her whole.


	2. Reunited

Sheer terror gripped Ib like iron claws. Caught it's vice-like grip ,the young girl couldn't even scream. Darkness was everywhere. The icy temperature draped over Ib's body like a suffocating blanket. Shivers shook her frame. Trembling Ib curled herself into a tight ball, wrapping her arms around her legs and pressing her forehead against her knees.

A voice called out to her through the empty darkness," Ib" it kept saying "Ib wake up". The voice shone light into the cold void. The young girl clung to that voice, it was a lifeline from this dark abyss.

...

Ib opened her eyes slowly, a figure was above her, repeating her name. She squinted, trying to get her eyes to focus on the blurry face.

"Oh you're awake! Finally, I've been calling and calling"

Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled into a crushing embrace. Her face was pressed into a mass of dark and tattered fabric that smelled faintly of cigarette smoke. It was quite the greeting to wake up to. Startled, and still in a bit of a daze, she gave the strange person a shove.

"Oh dear, did I startle you? I didn't mean to, my apologies Ib. My you've grown some too, how old are you now? Fifteen? Sixteen? I was scared you'd never return, you don't know how relived I am to see you again. It's strange now that I think of it, how you've aged, but I haven't. This wretched gallery must warp time somehow... Oh! and I have your rose too, I'm sure you'll want that back. It's in that vase over there..."

Ib gaped as the man continued to babble excitedly. Catching her stare the man trailed off.

"Ib...? Are you alright?" He asked, concern making his brow wrinkle.

"Y-you! You're the painting!" Ib sputtered, pointing a shaking finger in his direction.

There's no mistaking it, the wavy mop of purple hair, the torn and tattered coat. Even the blue rose tucked in his front pocket.

The man sighs "Only the same amount of people who entered the gallery could leave, "equivalent exchange"Guertena called it. The remaining person would be preserved as one of Guertena's works of art. Unfortunately, that _thing _took my rose, well we exchanged for yours, because I'd rather see you leave here than I Ib" He gave her a warm smile.

Ib shakes her head confused "You know my name... And you talk like we've met before... But I have absolutely no memory of ever seeing you."

The man looks shocked, but it quickly fades to hurt. "Ah.. I see Guertena erased your memory..." He clears his throat and smiles "But it's okay Ib, we'll just have to find a way to jog your memory hm? My name is Garry and you don't have to be alarmed, I'm not going to harm you."

Ib nods. For the first time since waking up the girl lets her eyes wander. They are in a small room, a few bookshelves are against a wall, in the middle of the room there's a rose sitting inside a vase perched on a small wood table, two more bookshelves are beside the vase.

Ib frowns "You said we're in the gallery, but I don't remember seeing this room before. Are we in a back room? Or storage?"

"This is going to sound very strange... But I think we're in a different world, a parallel one" Garry explains, feeling slightly embarrassed "I don't have a clue how we got here, but its dangerous. The paintings come to life, I almost perished, but you got my rose back and saved me, but you don't remember that do you?"

Ib shakes her head "I'm sorry..."

Garry reaches out and touches Ib's cheek softly. "It's alright" He says gently "When you're feeling better how about we search for a way out? Does that sound alright?"

Feeling like she was nine again, Ib nods. "Alright, but I came here with my sister, and I'm not leaving without her"

"Fair enough" Garry says helping Ib up "We'll find her and then we can all leave together"

Instinctively Ib laces her fingers between Garry's, surprising herself, she was sixteen now, why was she holding onto this stranger's hand as if she was a child? But it felt so natural, even Garry didn't seem to mind.

"Ready?" Garry asks, giving Ib's hand a reassuring squeeze

Ib nods. "Yeah, let's go."


	3. One , two, coming after you

"NO!" Mary screams, kicking "Forgotten Portrait", the painting had swung closed after Ib had fallen in. "This wasn't supposed to happen again!"

Desperately she tries to pry the canvas off the wall but it doesn't budge. Tears well behind the blonde girl's cobalt eyes.

"I don't want to lose you!" Mary cries starting to bang her fists against the painting.

Realizing it's futile, she collapses to her knees. Tears run down her cheeks, causing her perfect makeup to dissolve into black streaks across her cheeks. Trembles shake the young girl's body as she doubles over sobbing.

"I-I'm so s-sorry I-Ib" Mary chokes between sobs and hiccups "I-I didn't m-mean for this t-to h-happen. I sh-should have s-stopped you from c-coming back!"

A tap on Mary's shoulder causes the young girl to look up. It's one of the headless statues, it's dressed on a knee length, comfortable looking blue dress.

"Huh?" the girl mumbles, confused "What are you doing here?"

The statue points at the corridor.

"What is it? Do you know where Ib is?"

The statue takes a few steps down the corridor then motions Mary to follow.

The girl wipes her tear stained face then gets up and follows the blue clad statue.

"Where are you taking me?"

The statue remains silent as it leads Mary deeper into the gallery. The girl sighs knowing that the statue won't be able to answer any of her questions. At the end of the hallway, the statue turns left, down a flight of stairs.

"I kinda miss the gallery you know." Mary says quietly, the statue doesn't show any sign that it heard her, but she's fully aware it was listening. "But life outside in the real world is really wonderful. I have tons of friends and we go out all the time. My favorite place is the mall I think, it's so full of people and life, plus I love shopping. " Mary is talks now purely to fill the silence "And I have a family too, a real one. And its better than how people describe it in books, mum makes theses really yummy chocolate chip cookies sometimes, and dad takes me too the library sometimes, I don't really like reading but I love spending time with him-"

The statue raises a thin finger in front of Mary's lips, silencing her. They had stopped walking, and it was pointing to the exhibit, "Abyss of the Deep". The blue paint swirls like waves.

"Yay you found a way in!" Mary exclaims happily giving the statue a quick hug "Thank you so much!"

The statue remains motionless as the young girl takes a running jump into the painting.

...

Mary finds herself in the middle of a corridor, behind her, the door she had walked through fades away. A chill goes through the girl's spine realizing that she's trapped until she finds Ib.

"Ib!" She calls "Ib are you there?" No response.

With a sigh Mary walks down the familiar corridor. She pulls her cell phone out of her back pocket and sighs, theres no service and the clock is still paused at 5.

"Mary!" She hears a voice call "Mary is that you?"

Turning around Mary sees "Lady in Red" crawling towards her.

"Lady!" Mary cries happily, bending down at her level "I've missed you"

"I've missed you too Mary" Lady smiles, giving Mary's knee a pat, then her face grows grim "Mary listen to me, you have to be careful _he's _here."

"Garry right?" the blonde mutters darkly.

Lady nods "When you and Ib entered the gallery he woke up... Please be careful, last time you were here he almost killed you" Lady has tears in her eyes.

"Its alright" Mary says taking one of Lady's hands in her own "Ib doesn't remember anything, and I'm sure she has enough sense to stay away from strangers"

Lady nods "But take this" she says handing Mary a palette knife, the sharp blade glints in the dim light of the gallery.

"Thank you" Mary says with a smile,

"You better be off now" Lady says with wide red eyes" they are close to the exit"

Mary nods, standing up "Goodbye Lady"

"Goodbye Mary."


End file.
